Glastonbury is for middle-aged masochists

Wednesday, 9th June 2010

Europe’s biggest musical festival is now just a massive authoritarian pigpen, says Brendan O’Neill. No wonder the young are staying away

Meanwhile, busybody groups such as Greenpeace, Oxfam and the Samaritans can be seen everywhere at Glasto, lecturing attendees about their role in destroying the planet, their ignorance of African poverty, and the importance of good mental health.

Is it really any wonder teens don’t bother with it anymore? They get enough of this health-obsessed, risk-averse, sex-suspicious, crime-fearin’ propaganda in their Personal, Social and Health Education classes at school. The old hippies initiated music festivals because they believed, perhaps a little self-indulgently, that young people were capable of setting up arenas for communion and self-exploration separate from the pieties and obsessions of everyday life. Now older, greyer and more money-minded, they think that the young are not trustworthy or sensible after all, and therefore must be prodded and goaded like cattle.

The rejection of the new, over-policed, anti-risk Glastonbury by young people is an act of principled rebellion on a par with Michael Eavis’s decision to set up a small, hippyish music festival in the first place in 1970. Today, he’s The Man.

Previous page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

More articles from: Brendan O'Neill | this section

Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (3)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Post comment

A. MacAulay

June 13th, 2010 7:50am Report this comment

A real case of "All along the watchtower" then.

Michael Shaw

June 14th, 2010 4:39pm Report this comment

I've been to Glastonbury once, and will never again and this article brings up some good points. Too much health and safety and policing, it's meant to be a festival, seems someone forgot.
Good point about the safe sex advice too, like the author no doubt, I prefer to not use condoms.
As suggested from now on I only go to V festival which does not have the restrictive atmosphere of Glastonbury.

Simon Anica

June 14th, 2010 5:10pm Report this comment

Excellent article, glad there's some out there who realise what a granny state we live in. With Glastonbury crawling with police it's become very safe. Gone are the drug dealers and the crime that came with them, and certainly gave the festival quite an edge. As a result it's now safer than ever to take the whole family.
And all this nonsense about safe sex, everyone knows it feels better without a condom.

Post comment